SF says loyalists using PSNI information

Information held by police in the North is being used by loyalists to attack republican homes, Sinn Féin claimed today.

Information held by police in the North is being used by loyalists to attack republican homes, Sinn Féin claimed today.

Houses owned by Lisburn councillor Mr Paul Butler and the party's West Belfast MLA Mr Fra McCann were hit by ball bearings in a fresh outbreak of violence against party representatives.

Dozens of homes, the majority of which are owned by Sinn Féin members, have been attacked in the Greater Belfast area in the last six months.

Nobody was hurt when the ball bearings struck bullet-proof glass although missiles did shatter a window at the home of Mr McCann.

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Mr Butler said: "Whoever is behind these attacks has accurate information about the addresses of republicans. The only agency that has this information is the PSNI.

"However, those behind the attacks need to realise that they will not succeed in intimidating Sinn Féin elected representatives from doing their jobs."

Meanwhile, British army bomb disposal experts defused two pipe bombs discovered in north Belfast.

The first device was found at the junction of the Westland Road and Cavehill Road at about 10.30 p.m. last night; the second was found on a footpath at Alliance Avenue at 12.45 a.m. this morning.

A number of items have been removed for forensic examination.